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Jewish troops in Iraq can practice their faith, thanks to Navy rabbi
A short distance from the area where many historians believe the Talmud was written, Rabbi Jon Cutler leads one of the only functioning synagogues left in Iraq.
Doing Jews right on TV—for better or worse
The Jewish character has become the American Jewish character, disassociated from an ethnic history and assimilated into American culture. And the assimilation hasn't only been for Jews.
Israelis catch U.S. election fever
Israelis -- including the American citizens among them, as many as half of whom hail from swing states -- have been closely following the election campaign across the ocean with a mix of interest, concern, bemusement and validation
‘Accidental Mexican’ Ilan Stavans probes cultural identity in first play
As an "accidental Mexican" born to an Eastern European family, author and essayist Ilan Stavans has hurdled critics to become one of the nation's foremost commentators on Latino culture. As a Mexican American, he has written widely on immigration, the clash and fusion of languages and the quest for acceptance.
An American wedding in Israel
My fiance, David, cheerfully agreed to designate groomsmen to accompany my green-clad friends down the aisle (another ceremonial tradition not done in Israel -- there, only the bride and groom walk down the aisle). However, despite showing them how lovely matching bridesmaids and groomsmen look on David's Bridals' Web site, we could not convince his three brothers to wear matching suits.
In the eye of a racial storm
Feuding community leaders smooch and make up
Movies: Polish drama explores Jewish-Catholic relations
In contrast to the other 45 presentations at the current Polish Film Festival, "Forgiveness" is in English with an American cast and set in a contemporary American city. However, the director and storywriter is Poland's Mariusz Kotowski, and the film's mood is shaped by memories of wartime Poland.
L.A. Jewish girl joins the African Jewish matzah dance
My Pesach preparation, like that of so many Americans, usually involves walking to my local supermarket and loading a cart full of Manischewitz products...
Don’t chastise Jews’ grants to non-Jewish causes
Jewish foundations are growing by leaps and bounds, giving away billions of dollars and supporting practically every cause and organization that you can imagine. This is good news, unless of course you are in the camp that believes Jews and the foundations they create are misguided if they give to non-Jewish, rather than Jewish, organizations.
On the tricky question of ‘who is a Jew[ish writer]?‘
So we return, with the inevitability of quarrels in a shul, to the question posed at the outset: what makes a Jewish writer? I promised to avoid it, but there is a Wittgensteinian way out (and by the way, was he a Jewish philosopher?) A Jewish writer is someone whom we choose to call a "Jewish" writer. Would we rather have a clear category or fecundity and individuality of expression? Uniformity of commitment or divergence? The dilemma of modern Jewish writing is the same as that which bedevils modern Judaism: Where one can be everything, how likely is it that in the end, bristling with talent and showered with opportunity, one will come to nothing?
TV: Shoah makes searing mark in Ken Burns WWII documentary
"We wanted to use four [American] towns as examples to get to know people -- those who fought and those who stayed at home -- and to get to their experiences as it happened."
The result is Burns and co-director Lynn Novick seeing the war as it was unfolding through the eyes of soldiers from Mobile, Ala.; Sacramento; Waterbury, Conn., and Luverne, Minn., to show, in so many ways, the ongoing hellishness of even a necessary war.
Dual Identity, Double the Questions
These days, more American families are adopting from China than any other foreign country, and a large number of those families are Jewish. A wave of girls is now coming of age, starting to face challenging issues of identity.
What makes a ‘real’ Jew?
When I started Milken Community High School's middle school after finishing the sixth grade at Abraham Joshua Heschel Day School, I further realized how unacquainted I was with my own feelings toward my religion. Although we had Judaic studies every year, I felt unable to drift away from my parents' beliefs and create my own.
Uri Geller bends self into Israel ‘reality TV’ stardom
Geller is most famous for bending spoons "with his mind," a feat that commonly figures into legends, jokes and parodies about him, although the contestants perform more sophisticated stunts on the show.
‘The Good Shepherd’: I was a young man for the CIA
Eric Roth's impressive resume as a Hollywood screenwriter includes an Oscar (for adapting "Forrest Gump") and a string of reality-based screenplays about the difficulties important people face choosing between realpolitik and personal morality.
Michael Richards: Still not a Jew
Richards is the former "Seinfeld" star who was videotaped at the Laugh Factory in West Hollywood lashing out at hecklers using the N-word.
TV: Should Jews save the werewolf from extinction?
The last in a long line of Jewish werewolves disappeared when "Buffy the Vampire Slayer," said goodbye to Oz. He left the show explaining that he had to go off to learn how to "control the wolf within." With this, a 60-year-long thematic liaison between Jews and werewolves ended.
Rabbi Gary Greenebaum takes national leadership position; Survival of Jews in Iran is a paradox, pan
Rabbi Gary Greenebaum takes national leadership position; Survival of Jews in Iran is a paradox, panel shows.
American Jews are learned in everything—except Jewish texts
The American Jewish community is one of the most learned and sophisticated communities in Jewish history - in everything except Jewish texts. As Jews, we are illiterate.
Book Review: Tools to fight terror: big dreams, good friends
Goldberg recently won the Anti-Defamation League's Daniel Pearl Award and goes so far as to suggest that being Jewish has benefited him in his dealings with terrorists.
GOP pro-Israel campaign is the real deal—why the hysteria?
For many, party allegiance is based on gut feeling, for others, a multiplicity of issues. For now, let's talk about the most controversial issue RJC confronted -- Israel
Jewish causes must compete to get big charitable gifts
A $100 million gift to Yeshiva University is the largest ever to a U.S. Jewish Institution. Why don't more wealthy jews give to jewish causes?
Trio of films offers eclectic choices: sea, spies, punk
Trio of films offers eclectic choices.
Exercise your right to read—without censorship
The American Library Association got more than 400 requests to ban books last year. But most of those requests were unsuccessful, because of librarians, teachers, parents, students and other people who make sure books stay on shelves.
Meat meets lemon—brisket gone wild!
Brisket with Fennel and Olives; preserved lemons; Stuffed Nectarines a la Chez Panisse.
Americans fighters in Israel get overdue thank you
An exhibit commemorating the American and Canadian volunteers who had fought in Israel's War of Independence in 1947-1949 and manned the "illegal" Aliyah Bet ships carrying refugees to the Jewish state.
Holy Moses—The Getty’s latest collection puts a Christian perspective on the leader, lawgiver and
The Getty Center's upcoming exhibition "Holy Image, Hallowed Ground: Icons from Sinai" (Nov. 14-March 4) provides a great opportunity to ponder these religious confluences, while also coming almost face-to-face with some of the earliest, and most beautiful, images in Christian art.
Finding Deeper Truths in Fiction—the Best About Israel
One should read Israeli writers, of course -- Agnon, Amichai, A.B. Yehoshua, Aharon Appelfeld, Orly Castel-Bloom, Etgar Keret. But the more appropriate template may come from fellow Americans, writers who, by exploring the Diaspora Jew's relationship to Israel, have gone down this road before.
From Agony to Acceptance—Documentary Delves Into Intermarriage
"Out of Faith" will screen at 7:30 p.m., Sept. 12, at the Laemmle Sunset 5 Theatre, 8000 Sunset Blvd., West Hollywood, to be followed by a discussion between the audience and the filmmakers. When Holocaust survivor Leah Welbel learns that her American granddaughter is about to marry a Christian, she cries out, "When this happened in my old hometown, my family used to sit shiva. Here they expect me to open my arms. I can't do it."
Israel, U.S. Act on Request for Renewable Energy
Under the proposed U.S.-Israel Energy Cooperation Act, scientists and engineers from both countries would focus on research, development and commercial use of renewable energy from solar, wind, hydrogen and biofuel sources.
Beverly Hills TV Agent Casts Himself in Reality Show: Lebanon War
Altman got down and dirty in the trenches, volunteering at a different place each day of his trip, which was coordinated by Dani Neuman, executive director of the Haifa Foundation.
Celebrate Rosh Hashanah in India? No Problem
Unlike my Pesach in Argentina, where we had to walk through metal detectors to enter the five-star hotel in Patagonia, this Rosh Hashanah service was open to anybody and everybody, bringing together quite an eclectic mix of travelers.
Rites Mark ‘94 Bombing of Jewish Center in Argentina
For most Americans -- or even American Jews -- the date July 18, 1994 does not strike the melancholy chord that Sept. 11, 2001 does, for the Jewish population of Argentina it is a date as infamous as any in the history of the Argentine nation.
American-Born Spokeswoman Big Asset to Israel
The former army intelligence officer with an easy smile was busy as the face of Israel's foreign media outreach, giving more than 80 interviews to international media networks and newspapers during the war.
Persian Angelenos Pledge Money, Support to Israel
The giving has special meaning for Jews who not long ago enjoyed the umbrella of protection Israel offered them while living in Iran. Now, they feel a sense of duty to support Israel at a time when it is being threatened by Iran.
Israelis Bring Situation Close to Home for Campers
Like most camps, Hess Kramer, has a staff of Israelis who work as counselors and educators. This summer, 1,400 Israelis, most of them between the ages of 19 and 22, are staffing 200 Jewish day and sleep-away camps, according the Jewish Agency, which coordinates the stays.
Don’t Think Of Me As Different—I’m Not
My name is Rachel, and I am a Jewish American girl who was born in China.
The Lichtenstein Formula for a Jewish Paper
The role of a Jewish newspaper is to connect the Jewish community, not to unify it," said Gene Lichtenstein, founding editor of The Journal.
During his nearly 15-year tenure, which ended in 2000, Lichtenstein's formula was to hire good, independent writers and columnists who could produce articles that raised the interest, and frequently the hackles, of both professional and peripheral Jews.
Nation & World Briefs
National and World Briefs.
High Ideals and a Hot Bod
Writers as varied as Shakespeare and Sir Walter Scott have written of the exotic beauty of Jewish women. But what about Jewish men?
7 Days in The Arts
7 Days in the Arts.
View on Eisen From L.A.: Thumbs Up
Local reaction was positive -- with an element of wait and see -- to the choice of Stanford professor Arnold Eisen as the new, de facto leader of the Conservative moment. Eisen, who isn't a rabbi, will take over this summer as chancellor of the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York.
The Second American Jewish Revolution
Wars, the Holocaust, the creation of the State of Israel and the movement of Jews to countries of freedom and security shaped the first revolution in Jewish communal life. Now, individuals are able to re-invent the idea of "community" on their own terms.
This Week - Passover Prep
Shabbat dinner at the home of two doctors, north of Montana Avenue in Santa Monica: There's a terrific chicken with lemons and green olives, the lemons plucked from a tree in the yard. There's crisp roasted potatoes, salad and a 1998 Cabernet. The table is set with silver candelabras and a sterling silver Kiddush fountain funnels sweet wine from one large cup into several smaller clones. My cup runneth over into a lot of little cups.
Feminist Desktop Revolution
Don't have time to shlep to a museum? Too tired to remember if the free museum day is the first or second Tuesday of the month?
Spectator - A Three Nyuks Salute
Three Jews are in a room screaming at one another, poking each other in the eyes, hitting each other on the head with objects ranging from frying pans to anvils. It's either a meeting of the synagogue's board of trustees or a Three Stooges film festival. Fortunately, this time, it's the latter, a quick but lethal -- and lethally funny -- display of Stoogehood by the American Cinematheque as part of its year-end festivities from Dec. 28-Dec.30.
Groucho, Harpo, Chico and Irv
When Irving S. Brecher was writing the Marx Brothers' movie, "At the Circus," in 1938, he got into trouble with the Hollywood censors.
Nathan Takes a Bite Out of Boring Fare
"I never think of food as something that's stationary," Nathan said on a recent book tour stop in Los Angeles. "Things change, neighborhoods change, food changes, we get new ingredients, people get ideas. And when you come to a country you adapt what you knew to that country."
Orthodoxy Has Chance to Reshape Role
Jewish community. With courage and vision, we need to act on this opportunity by understanding the important changes that have occurred over the last decades and rethinking the way we engage the broader Jewish community.
The Great Question
"Who We Are: On Being (and Not Being) a Jewish American Writer," edited by Derek Rubin (Schocken Books, 2005), an Israeli-born professor who teaches in the Netherlands, collects 29 essays by Jewish American writers, some of which were previously published, others reshaped or written for this collection.
Interfaith Dialogue Can Bring Change
Institutions change. Change is not spontaneous, easy or automatic. It requires face-to-face encounters and a determination to dialogue. As Martin Buber famously put it, "All real life is meeting." Absent dialogue, the vacuum creates disinformation and resentment.
Wanted: A General in the Obesity War
Obesity is the fastest growing health threat in this country, currently on track to overtake tobacco as No. 1.
In the eyes of American and Torah laws, Williams should die for his heinous crimes.
In the case of the People v. Williams, the facts are quite clear. A jury convicted Stanley Tookie Williams of the execution-style murder of 23-year-old Albert Owens during a robbery of a 7-Eleven store in Whittier. The jury also convicted him of murdering the owners of a Los Angeles motel, Tsai-Shai Yang, 62, and Yen-I Yang, 65, and their 42-year-old daughter, Yee Chen Lin, in the course of a robbery two weeks later. The American justice system has been patient and thorough, and its verdict is clear: It is legal, proper and high time that Williams should die.
Tribe
Cheating: The dreaded problem that faces every school across America -- and not just the obvious sneak-a-peak-at-your-neighbor's-quiz cheating. With thousands of essays, articles and book summaries at their fingertips, American students have discovered the Internet, expanding the opportunities both to cheat and plagiarize.
Read All About It
Alberto Senderey is a model Jewish professional, and not just because he invited me as one of five Americans included for the four-day symposium in beautiful Oxford. An energetic, optimistic burst of Argentine energy, he recognized that Jewish media have a unique and underappreciated perspective on Jewish communal life.
7 Days in The Arts
7 Days in the Arts
No Small Actors, Only Fake Parts
"Le Grand Role" has laughter, pathos, in-jokes, heartburn, self-caricature -- in other words, it's a really, really Jewish film, even though the characters insist on speaking French.
Never Been Mugged
In the door pocket of my car I have one road atlas of Israel, one map of the streets of Tel Aviv, one map of the Galilee and, at last count, no fewer than five of Jerusalem. I am always apprehensive of taking the wrong road, and winding up where I might be perceived as an unwelcome intruder.
Not-So-Nice Jewish Boy
When Israeli producers came to America to audition Jewish men to star in "Nice Jewish Boy," their upcoming Bachelor-type reality show, I decided to throw my hat in the ring. After all, who better than me -- a commitment-phobic, ardently secular, anxious, heavily medicated, pale glass of short Jewish water -- to represent the American way?
This could be a chance for me to make a real difference in Israeli-American relations. I began to fantasize about my very own harem of glistening Israeli chicks in sweaty army fatigues, and all that we could do to and for one another in the name of world diplomacy. I'd learn invaluable lessons that only these gorgeous Israelis could teach me: how to shoot an Uzi, how to chain smoke and how to have zero respect for someone's personal space. I, on the other hand, would pass on such valuable American skills as: driving a block away to Starbucks to spend $3 on a cup of coffee, how to say the words "excuse me" and, most importantly, how to apply underarm deodorant.
So, after my initial inquiry and some e-mail exchanges with the producer, I received a phone call from the show's production coordinator in Israel at 6 a.m. No. You heard that right. Six. In the morning.
Shadows Obscure Illegal Aliens’ Hopes
In speaking about illegal aliens, President Bush says the time has come to bring "millions of hard-working men and women out of the shadows."
However, Republican leaders in Congress claim that Bush's proposals would reward lawbreakers. They soon plan to pass legislation tightening the legal and physical screws on illegal immigrants. The idea is to make the bill veto-proof by tying it to emergency funding for U.S. troops in Iraq.
For me, the issue is of more than passing interest. It was to California, long an immigration battleground, that I came to the United States in 1941 as the only child of illegal aliens.
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